$36B of VC raised in '15 nears decade record; PE fundraising slips

February 11, 2016

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In an environment where capital overhang figures have become ridiculously inflated and competition for quality has forced an increasingly challenging deal environment, fundraising efforts remained relatively robust across the private equity and venture capital spaces last year. According to our 2015 Annual PE and VC Fundraising & Capital Overhang Report, more than $185 billion in committed capital was raised in 2015, a 7% YoY decline over 2014 numbers, but still relatively inflated on a historical basis. What's more, capital overhang has continued to rise, raising questions about the ability of managers to adequately deploy this capital in an uncertain future environment.

On the VC side, we've seen over $69 billion in capital raised across 500 venture funds since 2014. Last year alone saw capital committed to the asset class jump to $35.3 billion, the second-highest figure over the past decade. With public tech comps moving rapidly lower, the frothy valuations we've seen across unicorns remain a significant concern, leaving market watchers curious about what liquidity will be left if we continue to see further markdowns.

The above-mentioned report, powered by the PitchBook Platform, dives deeper into these occurrences, examining both PE and VC fundraising efforts, vehicle closing times and current overhang, among other topics.